CraigC
Master Chef
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2011
- Messages
- 6,486
Can you still get the Mission tortillas in the refrigerated case? None of our Local groceries carry them anymore.
Can you still get the Mission tortillas in the refrigerated case? None of our Local groceries carry them anymore.
Caslon, once you master how to cook your own taco shells you'll never go back to those brittle nasty shells in a box.
Here's how Mama taught me. Have all your taco fixin's ready to go. I buy the super size yellow corn tortillas.
In your largest skillet, pour in about an inch of veg. oil, and get it hot on med heat. With tongs, lay a tortilla into the oil just to wet it, and quickly turn it over, wetting the other side. With the tongs, quickly flop one side over the other forming the "taco" shape. Lightly fry on each side. I can get three of them into my largest skillet, with round edges facing outward. Don't cook them too much because the seam will crack if you do. Drain them on paper towels, and fill all three of them with all the fixin's, then begin on the next three. They must be eaten right away, so while hubby is eating, I cook mine. It takes some practice to do this, but it is SOOOOOOO worth it. I repeat, those hard boxed shells are nasty.
Let me know if you try it......you won't be sorry.
...With the tongs, quickly flop one side over the other forming the "taco" shape. Lightly fry on each side...
Kayelle, if you do this, doesn't the folded tortilla fry in a 'closed' shape? Then if you pry it open to fill it, it breaks? Or do you take it out of the oil before it gets brittle?
Andy, I like them soft, so I take them out of the oil while they're still pliable.
My daughters like them more on the crispy side though, so I hold the folded tortillas open with the tongs, fry one side, then flip them over and fry the other till it's as crispy as they like them, while still using the tongs to hold them open. Plenty large enough opening to fill them that way.
Did the meat part of your question get answered. You can put about anything inside a corn tortilla and call it a taco, and a lot of it is great eating, and there's no one authentic taco meat. You're saying saying stringy and slow cooked so I'm thinking shredded and braised. Easy-Peasy.I would like to be able to make slow cooked taco meat, the kind that roadside stands or drive ins make. Stringy and authentic tasting. Then I'd like to learn to oil fry the taco shells. I was once working in a couples home who had an elderly mexican maid cook who cooked up the meat beforehand and fried up the taco tortillas for them for lunch. My mouth was watering and I was so envious of them. To them it was just another meal for lunch.
I wonder if I would know how to cook genuine slow cooked taco meat and do the oil fried taco shells, but I keep telling myself to try. I don't even know where to start, but slow cooking the seasoned meat all day is how they do it. As for oil frying the tortillas and folding them, I suppose I could get that part learned.
Brilliant, Kayelle! I will be trying this!
Craig, ours sit out on the shelves. No refrigeration needed, and the package I got states it's good till the end of September.
That is just it, the refrigerated ones didn't have the preservatives to be shelf stable. They taste fresher.
Thanks GG!
I know your kids are also grown and gone now like mine, but it must have taken you ages to hold all those tortilla's open one at a time. I had boys who could eat a dozen at a sitting.
You're a better Mom than me Cheryl. My kids only got them Mom's way.
Zhizara,
Have you ever tried freezing them after they are filled? I think it might be a good option for us single folks.
Thanks for suggestions regarding slow cooked pulled beef taco meat.
I went to the store and bought a 1.60 lb. beef chuck top blade roast, very nice looking, needs no trimming. Anyways, since I'm a newb at this, I think I might try this method.
The original recipe calls for 3 lbs. I'm using half that weight. If I'm halving the ingredients, what should I do about the cooking time? Halve that as well? Not sure.
She said 300F degrees, but noted. So it would be 2.5 hours at 300F for a 1.6 lb chuck roast. It's a test anyways, so not a big deal. I'll be cooking it in the next week or so and will try and get back here with the results.
Thanks for suggestions regarding slow cooked pulled beef taco meat.
I went to the store and bought a 1.60 lb. beef chuck top blade roast, very nice looking, needs no trimming. Anyways, since I'm a newb at this, I think I might try this method.
The original recipe calls for 3 lbs. I'm using half that weight. If I'm halving the ingredients, what should I do about the cooking time? Halve that as well? Not sure.